INDIANANGLER

Went fishing this weekend - Fri and Sat - got back early afternoon today - Sunday 23rd.
The trip was a family one where I wanted to introduce my kids also to fishing - we were 3 families - and I was the only one with the angling equipment. The trip promised to be a washout with the amount of rain that we've had in the southern part of the peninsula and Owen - I took your advice - prayed like crazy on Thursday...and man did that work !!!
Reached Bheemeshwari around 9:30 - the sun was shining and the weather seemed just perfect. The water was quite coloured though....almost like after the first bit of heavy rain in June.

Went for a walk upstream as usual with my spinning gear and my kids in tow No luck at all...of course the complaining about the hot sun didnt help the cause

That evening - Devi (my eight year old) gets her hands on a Murrel for the first time - caught by moi - at my usual pool opposite the camp.


Next morning - was totally shot....one of the newbies along with me - Anand caught a small silver.

Chapter 2 - Later that evening....or why I am beginning to hate Newbies
Later that evening.....Niri and I were first looking for Murrel opposite the camp and then settled down on a rock in the middle of the Camp pool by about 6pm...Niri was fairly frustrated by the fact that he had never caught a fish in his 2 fishing trips so far (or ever in his life) - of course I went on to tell him about the many many many trips that I have gone on without so much as a nibble - forget about catching a fish .
Equipment : I was basically fishing using my spinning rod - 12 pound mono, and my Shimano spinning reel - as my equipment was divided across the group. Niri was holding onto my Abu Garcia Viper Uptider with 40 pound mono and a large Daiwa spinning reel.
More BS later we found our lines were hopelessly entangled and I decided I had taken enough of a chance with my tackle in that water and decided to pack up. Niri was also ready to leave when we decided to stick it out another 30 minutes.
SLAM !!!! Suddenly without any warning Niri's reel began to sing and how !!! He looked at the rod completely petrified and the Gillie and I were screaming at him to lift the rod and complete the hookset. He finally did and then of course the fish still kept running. I somehow managed to increase the drag as I had quite some confidence in the line and about 20 mins later he landed this absolute beauty....



Here's a shot I just couldnt get over -


This shot shows up the beauty's colour the best The camp managers daughter wanted to take a photo with the fish and Siddaiah the gillie obliged - btw the Gillie was totally awesome !!!



Fish was properly weighed (using a sling at my insistence) and came in at 26.9 kgs - I am calling it a 60 after rounding off

Owen - thats a mussulah as well right ? Not sure about my identification capabilities here.

This morning I took a small mahseer on the spinner - seemed a bit unusual so I took a photo...is this what is called a Black mahseer ?

Wow! That is one hell of a trip. And that newbie luck grrrrrrrr


Cheers

Got to get me one of those

Wow! Thats an amazing fish!!
Yaj.

Great Going Guys......& Good shots Of the Great Fish

Keep it Flowing.....

Thanks for sharing.... by the way thats a monster

Great PICS mate. When hell of a fish

By popular demand....here are a couple more photos of last weekend's big one at Bheemeshwari further to my post on Sunday





FYI - the man who caught this has officially "retired" according to him....we'll see how long that lasts

Great Job Sudhir
Best
Axx

Good show, Sudhir and congrats for that Mahaseer. What was the weight?

Did you release the fish or kept it for table?

Regards,

Arun

Great fish Sudhir. Any anglers dream. What was the weight and tackle used.
Cheers
Sualeh

Thanks Sudhir, read about the wt of the fish and tackle in the other post by you. And what a first fish to catch Your friend is real lucky guy. After all the years, i still dream to catch a mahseer this big

Regards and best of luck for the next trip.
Sualeh

Hi Sudhir,
Who caught this one ? It is one of the now rare Barbus Tor Mussullah.
I would say it weighs between 55 to 60 lbs, can you confirm that ? Great fish!
Looks like Bheemeshwari has been fishing well this season.
Regards
Owen

nice picture and a great fish.........
congrates...........
it must be an amazing experience to catch such a monster.....
regards
hozefa.

That is one amazing fish! Gives us something to dream about
Regards,
Yaj.

Hi,

Thats a great fish and I agee with Yaj, something to dream Boaut

RoS

good show man!!! must have put up a heck of a fight!!!!

and as far as table manners go... for the sake of the mahseer, mother nature and all other anglers, please release all mahseer caught!!! their numbers are rapidly falling across the board!!!

besides there are tastier fish to eat out there!!! check with your local machhi wala!

No worries mate! Any fish coming out of the Kaveri taken by anglers go right back in after a picture and a cuddle. Anglers have no choice.
It's poachers we have to worry about.

Lots of questions...all because guys missed the initial post ...anyway...let me answer them...

Weight...26.9 Kgs...like I said its a 60 pounder after some creative rounding off

This fish was photographed and put back under some very watchful eyes..no taking any mahseer out of the water when I am around. In fact it was weighed also very carefully with a sling.

The fish was caught by a friend of mine...Niri or Niranjan more accurately...btw...this is the first fish he has ever caught in his life !!!!!!!!!!

I thought it was a Tor Mussulah...thanks for confirming Owen.

Fight...yes,,,I would say it was a fair fight...he took about 25 minutes or so to bring in...lots of going behind rocks etc...pretty much destroyed the first 20 feet or so of my 40 pound test mono....

Thanks for all the replies..and until next time..tight lines !!!

Thanks for the details Sudhir! Was it caught on ragi, crab or chilwa ? Knowing the guides at Bheemeshwari it was probably ragi..
Caught in fastwater or in a deep pool ?
Regards
Owen

Owen,

Funnily enough we had just switched to Ragi from Chilwa and crab a little earlier...

Sudhir

Fantastic fish mate! Well done you guys. Hope i will be as lucky this year

Great fish. Heard about this one being caught just after i left.
As far as i know that is the fifth fish over 50 lb caught from Bheemishwari this year, better than the last four years put together!

Hey Sudhir thanks mate for the report really a great catch I can understand the first timer luck as I was granted that when i caught my first trout but this is really a monster excellent Pictures keep them coming. I hope to catch one of them too in near future
Rajat

Sudhir,

Thanks for reply to my question about release of fish back in the River. But does the rope that you pass thru the gills and mouth, not harm the fish?

Regards,

Arun

Arun,
The stringer doesn't damage the fish as long as it is used correctly and i sthe only safe way to land a big fish from a coracle - otherwise you'd need to drag them into it. It is also a good way of giving the fish a rest, especially after a long fight, but i wouldn't leave a fish on one for more than 15-20 minutes at most.
The rope needs to be soft, and passing it through the gills and out through the mouth needs to be done properly and carefully making sure it isn't around any of the gill rakers, otherwise it will kill the fish.
Ideally I'd like to use a very large soft mesh net and a retaining tube like we use for barbel (a smaller relation of the mahseer) in the UK, but this isn't really practical.

One thing you definitely don't want to do is weigh them by the stringer or lift them by it as this will put too much strain on them. You need some sort of weigh sling.

I second that Gary!
Use the right type of stringer, and keep the fish captive for only as long as it takes to recover, and you get the weighing and pictures out of the way.
Take a look at the stringer Gary is using guy's, this is the way it is done.
Posting on behalf of Gary.


Thats a Deccan mahseer Gary, and Sudhir, it could be the daddy of the little fellow you caught.
Here's another interesting fish that Gary caught with bright orange scales and some yellow and gold on the head and gill plates.

Thanks Garry for the clarification on my question about stringer. Does the Fish becomes calm once you pass the Stringer through its mouth?

Regards,


Arun

Arun,
They tend to calm down and swim around quite happily on the stringer, but you must make sure the other end is securely tied to something - if a mahseer escaped with the stringer it would most likely die.
I like to keep them on a reasonably long stringer once i have the fish to the bank. If you are in a coracle and need to tow it a short distance to the bank - obviously not through rapids or rocks - then use a short stringer. If the fish is close to the coracle then you can keep an eye on it and it prevents any crocodiles in the area having a go at them.
By the time you do the photos the fish should have recovered its strength but still needs holding for a good few minutes upright and facing into the current until it really tries to swim away - if you let go too early they can be swept downstream off balance and most likely die.
Anyone wondering about the metal clip on my stringer - this obviously doesn't go throuygh the gills, it is just a quick and secure way of attaching the looped end to rthe stringer (saves having to pass the whole stringer through the loop).

Thanks a lot Gary for the interesting info. Where can one purchase a Stringer? or one can make on his own? Can you guide me as to how to make one and what material I should use?

Arun

Arun,
You need some soft rope - not the rough nylon stuff. In the UK we can buy them specifically made for fishing, but when i have done searches on the internet I've found that the rope that magicians use for tricks looks very similar. As long as the rope is soft and strong it should be okay, but you don't want too fine a diameter as it could cut into the fish, at a guess I'd say mine is 10 mm diameter (sat in an office so can't check!).
Fold the end over to form a loop and then use some braid or mono to whip the loose end to main rope - hope this makes sense but hard to expain in words - basically this is neater than knotting a loop and easier to pass through the mouth and out through the gill. Once you have done the whipping heat the tag end of the rope with a lighter or any naked flame to 'blob' it, which makes it neater and prevents any chance of it slipping.
If you do an internet search on mahseer or catfish stringers you will find some, they are cheap by UK standards but will probably cost around 800 rupees plus postage so might be better to make your own.
Hope this helps. If you're unsure maybe someone else on the forum could help you out by selling you one.

Hi Arun,
I have never been able to find the right type of rope for a stringer here in India, the ones i have, have been gifted to me by visiting anglers.

I find them to be the first item to go missing from my fishing kit.
The guides seem to have a great affinity for a good stringer.

Of recent i have been gifted a very soft cord of around 10mm that is used by climbers.

It is not necessary that the whole stringer has to be made of the best material. You can use about a meter in length of the good stuff, and connect it to a strong cotton rope, making sure the rope is long enough to allow the fish to go down into the depths and out of the sun to relax.

Catch the 'Paras' here for some para cord. Ideal I'm told...

Thanks very much indeed, Gary, Owen and Eljefe for the advice. Now Once I get a right typeof soft rope, i can make one myself.

Regards,


Arun

Mr Mohile you can check out the shops in Masjid Bunder selling ropes, they have a lot of varieties of rope .I have bought some to use as a slip leash for my hound and it is very soft and non abrasive.
Regards,
Yaj.